Where Is The Bloody Toilet

Friday 1^st September 2017

Another good night’s sleep as we were able to open the window and let in some fresh air as well as the peaceful sounds of moos and baas from our neighbours.  Down to breakfast at 8.30am and a boiled egg for a bit of variety this morning.  We decided to have a fairly relaxed day and not do too much driving today.  We headed first to Portree hoping to get a bit of washing done first but discovered the laundrette doesn’t open til 11am but then stays open til 9pm.  That’s okay, we’ll incorporate our washing into a dinner time trip to Portree.

Headed north and up the east side of the top finger of Skye and knew when we had reached the Old Man of Storr by the huge number of cars overflowing the carpark and up and down the road nearby.  Found a space and headed off up the steep climb.  Large numbers of people filing up and down the path and I gave it my best shot but the steep climb just set my sore throat and coughing tendency off nicely so I found a convenient grassy knoll about halfway up and enjoyed the view from there.  Larry continued up the cliff face but even he eventually gave up after about 40 minutes of climbing.  It’s not that warm on Skye (about 15 degree maximums) but it is dry and partly cloudy today and when the sun comes out and you are climbing a t-shirt is quite sufficient.

We both safely made it back to the car and headed on to the next overflowing carpark which was the Lealt falls.  About this time Jenny noticed (for a reason) that all these tourist spots have carparks and information boards and probably even a nice man in a little van willing to sell you a bottle of water or an icecream but NO TOILETS!!  Honestly, considering the number of tourists this seems a serious oversight.  South-west WA (think Canal Rocks or The Gap) does these things so much better!

Onwards to Kilt Rock and Mealt falls – very spectacular (but still not toilets and all that rushing water...) and the drive further north was also so incredibly scenic – a full panorama of rocky crags, little white houses on the edge of reflective lochs, heather clad hills and dramatic cliffs and little white dots of sheep – just an amazingly beautiful scene in every direction.  

It was heading on for lunchtime and, look I don’t want to harp on but no toilet since breakfast time, and the sign to the Flodigarry Hotel was too tempting to resist. Headed down a steep winding road, lined with bracken and ferns and then popped out to a hotel on the edge of a cliff with a gorgeous view (and a toilet!)  We treated ourselves to a well earned drink after all our clambering of the morning sitting outside on the terrace in the sunshine with little robins hopping around our table hoping for chip crumbs.  Just a really wonderful spot.  Decided to stay on and have lunch there and I had a yummy steak sandwich and Larry had crab claws and salad.  I think at the end of the day the crabs were almost as much work as the climb up the Storr but Larry said it was very tasty Mrs Titmus and worth the effort.

Back in the car and after a brief dispute with a motorhome who refused to use the passing bays or to put one wheel in the grass (grrr) we finished our anti-clockwise trip around the peninsula and back to our little B&B.  Spent a couple of hours relaxing, blogging, facebooking etc (probably a spot of dozing also) and then, about 4ish headed back into Portree.  Took turns minding the clothes in the Laundromat whilst the other went for a wander around the shops etc.

We then had an early dinner at The Granary and Jenny had a delicious venison dish with drambuie sauce whilst Larry went for lamb. We decided to be extra decadent and have dessert (which we usually don’t have room for) because they had crème brulee on the menu which is my favourite and it was a damn fine one at that so didn’t regret being a bit piggy.  Larry had a meringue with mixed berry compote as it is now one of European traditions to have a big crunchy meringue at some point (see previous blogs from our time in France).